Step 6: Crack the lightbulb

Step 7: Mount it on the wall

Now that you have this killer Concrete Lightbulb Wall Hook, it's time to mount it into the wall. The steps here are fairly simple. 1) Find the stud....

Step 2: Hollow out the light bulb

In the beginning I found the directions at TeamDroid to be a great help on how to do this. Now that I've done it over a dozen times it's routine. With practice this becomes quick and simple. There is another instructable describing how to hollow out a lightbulb here to get another perspective on it. Teamdroid linked to a GE tech spec on your standard bulb here.

A lot of the time you are poking around inside the lightbulb trying to break off the internal glass bits. Do this over a trashcan and often shake the lightbulb out over the trashcan to get rid of the glass shards. Wear safety glasses at all times. More than once some glass flew up towards my face when I was doing this.

First, grip the metal circle with a blob of solder in the middle at the bottom of the lightbulb with your pliers and gently pry it up from the dark purple glass insulator. This is pulling a wire in the middle that you want to break, so just pull it off.

Once that is done, take your carbide scribe and over a trash can, pry into the hole you just made in the purple glass insulator and break up that purple glass. You want to remove all the purple glass insulator from the lightbulb body. I use the scribe to start some cracks and lift off a section of it, then I follow up with the screwdriver to get the rest. Turn the lightbulb upside down and shake out all the glass bits that have fallen inside.

Inside there is a small glass tube that pokes up into the glass insulator. You might or might not have already broken that off by now. If not, just lever the screwdriver against it until it snaps loose. Empty into the trashcan.

Now you have a hole in the bottom of the lightbulb. At this point I take my pliers and gently bend over the metal tabs on the inside of the hole so there is no "lip" on the inside. Later when you have broken up the rest of the inside pieces, there isn't anywhere for the bits to catch and stay in the lightbulb when you shake it out.

There should be a wire visible inside that's soldered to the side of the metal screw piece. Take your wire cutters and cut the wire as close to the side of the bulb as possible.

Now, the inside has a glass cylinder you need to break off and clean up the edges to finish the job. Take your scribe or screwdriver and put it down into the lightbulb until it meets resistance. Tap it gently until something breaks. Then using the screwdriver, lever against the side of the lightbulb to clean out whatever remaining glass bits are left. You want the neck of the lightbulb to be clear from the hole all the way down the body. Turn the bulb over and shake it out one more time to get rid of the last of the internal glass pieces floating loose.

Take a toothbrush and while dry, push it into the lightbulb and start loosening up the dry white powder. Especially in the neck of the bulb. Don't worry if you can't get the stuff the toothbrush can't reach at this point. I found the bulb cleans out easier if you do loosen up the white powder in the neck before it gets wet.

Now take it over to the sink and add a little soap and water. Scrub around with the toothbrush and shake the bulb to get the water everywhere. Pull out the toothbrush and then wash out the soapy water from the bulb. At this point it's all nice and clean inside without any soapy residue. Set it aside to dry out. Now it's time to mix up the concrete.

I hope you don't mind...I placed a link to your site on my site... http://cehalles.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/my-simple-creations/...I needed good instructions for hollowing out the light bulb and urs are very clear...thanks

Another little trick to removing the white powder coat is, once you have removed the filament, 1/2 fill the bulb with Methylated Spirits and about 2 tbsp of uncooked rice. Then cover the end and shake it up.

This will remove the coating without any scratches (not that that really matters in this case) and also removes the chance of getting a too over eager when cleaning with a toothbrush/bottlebrush and pushing through the glass (as I have done more times than I'd like to admit).

I agree. It's better to not mess with mercury than to have to deal with potential of contamination. There is a proverb dedicated to the mockers and scoffers. Mercury tends to make people stupid, and well, the results are that stupid people take unnecessary chances both with their own health as well as the health of others. I wish we could all be smart, but then we wouldn't have the entertainment of the The Darwin Awards. You know what they say... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"if" they break? When you do this aren't you supposed to break it? I mean of course it's gonna leak mercury and you should leave your house but its gonna break anyway, right? Even with one of those bulbs I wouldn't use it because it would either look really cool or really bad in the end. Plus it would probably break much easier. No offence to you or anything.

this kind of bulbs doesn't contain mercury. it think, your accident was because of fluorescent lamps. all of them contain freaky gases. -and, even if you know what you're doing, while modifying this bulbs by breaking, you shouldn't handle them with bare hands. you should wear painting gloves at least. broken glass is too sharp, it can easily pierce through your hand.

Instead of using a toothbrush to clean the white stuff inside the bulb, try using some salt. Pour the salt into the end of the bulb. Plug end with your thumb and shake until the glass is clear. Pour the salt out when your done. If your careful you could reuse the salt again and again.